Australia's Best Movie Magazine

Film reviews

Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

search the site

Enter search term:

newsletter

Enter your email address below to receive the weekly Filmink newsletter

Enter search term:

Catfish (Film)

by Cara Nash | January 25, 2011 11:41 | Edited January 25, 2011 11:41

A compelling, fascinating and at times surprisingly affecting doco which deserves the buzz it’s been generating.

Don't believe the marketing of this documentary. It's not the horror thriller that the trailer makes it out to be. In fact, by the time the much hyped twist plays out halfway through the film, it's not entirely surprising but what emerges in its wake is a compelling exploration of the relationship between virtual friendships and real connections; between artists and their fans.

 

Catfish follows Nev Schulman, a 24 year old New York photographer, who strikes up a relationship over Facebook with an eight-year old Michigan girl who sends him painted versions of his published snapshots. He also gradually befriends the young girl's mother and older sister, the latter of whom he begins a romantic relationship with via online conversations, text messages and calls. However, when some inconsistencies in the family's story become apparent, Nev decides to pay the family a visit, accompanied by his brother Ariel and best bud Henry Joost, both of whom shoot the film.

 

The camera work itself is a little sloppy but the scenes - which unfold on a day-by-day basis - are cleverly linked by Google Maps, YouTube clips and Facebook conversations. While there is a scene or two which come across somewhat contrived, there are other moments that are so hilarious, so cringe-worthy or so sad, that the movie seems undeniably authentic.

 

Indeed, the reality of the documentary - particularly whether the action played out exactly as the trio say it did - has become somewhat of a contentious issue. However, the question doesn't matter in the same way that it mattered in Joaquin Phoenix's fake documentary I'm Still Here because the themes explored in Catfish are so timely and provocative that they transcend the trivial discussion concerning which parts of the film were and were not constructed.

 

Catfish asks questions that were also at the heart of David Fincher's The Social Network: Does social networking make us more sociable or more narcissistic? Does it make us more connected or more alone? Is there anything genuine about purely virtual relationships? And while it doesn't offer any clear answers, there are rather disturbing insinuations at its core.

 

While Fincher's film showed us the origins of Facebook, Catfish reveals the effects of living out our lives - at least partially - in the online world Zuckerberg created. It's a world where everyone's manipulating the way they appear. Sure, there's a scale but at the very least, we're all trying our best to impersonate ourselves. Catfish reveals the human cost of social networking and it does so with surprising compassion and empathy.